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November 11, 2015 9:51 AM   Subscribe

What are some great punk bands with women singers?

Reminded how much I friggin love X-Ray Spex's "Up Bondage! Up Yours!" when it appeared in the closing credits of a Master of None episode, I would really like some recommendations for punk bands with female singers.

There used to be a ton of women-fronted bands in the early punk days, but now it seems the genre is wildly skewed towards men. Looking for new bands, like Priests, even bands that share vocal duties between a man and women, like RVIVR, and definitely some older stuff like the Plasmatics and the Slits.

(And goddamn it, Pandora, Against Me! counts, even though you never play bands with women singers on my AM station.)

For the sake of ease, assume I'm familiar with the more well known bands like Sleater-Kinney and the Distillers. (And I've read this question)
posted by General Malaise to Media & Arts (62 answers total) 63 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: You may like Ex Hex. We sing "Hot and Cold" all the time at my house.
posted by areaperson at 9:58 AM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Best answer: a little more on the Le Tigre side of things, there's Shopping
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:03 AM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: Perfect Pussy, lead by the awesome Meredith Graves!
posted by ozgirlabroad at 10:04 AM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Best answer: The Gits.
X.
posted by baseballpajamas at 10:05 AM on November 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


Best answer: White Lung
Screaming Females
posted by rhythm and booze at 10:12 AM on November 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Fifth Hour Hero is RVIVR - like.

And old stuff, such as The Donnas, The Soviettes, Babes in Toyland. You could mine the 90s for more if you want old stuff.
posted by littlewater at 10:15 AM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: Another vote for X. One of the greats for sure. An older band but still playing and still relevant.
posted by futureisunwritten at 10:15 AM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: The Muffs!
posted by freeform at 10:27 AM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Tilt!
posted by corey flood at 10:27 AM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: The Deafening
posted by nicwolff at 10:41 AM on November 11, 2015


Response by poster: Ooo these are terrific so far.

X is one of my favorite bands, so we're on the right track.

(It's funny to have ex hex recommended. They're a local band to me. Do love though.)
posted by General Malaise at 10:45 AM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: The Runaways
L7
early Go-Go's, depending on how loosely you define punk
posted by mkultra at 10:48 AM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: Oh, sorry, I missed the "new" part ;)
posted by mkultra at 10:48 AM on November 11, 2015




Best answer: Screaming Females (2nding)
The Coathangers
Partyline (Allison Wolfe from Bratmobile)
The Julie Ruin (Kathleen Hanna)
posted by melissasaurus at 10:50 AM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: mkultra - Oh no, I want old stuff too! A lot of the 70-80s stuff was pretty obscure, what with no Internet and all.
posted by General Malaise at 10:51 AM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: War on Women
posted by theefixedstars at 11:01 AM on November 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Oh and then there's G.L.O.S.S.
posted by theefixedstars at 11:08 AM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Crass with Eve Libertine on vocals.
posted by cazoo at 11:09 AM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: The Raincoats!
posted by ZipRibbons at 11:12 AM on November 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Chastity Belt
posted by a halcyon day at 11:15 AM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: Try The Savages.
posted by chicainthecity at 11:17 AM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Le Butcherettes
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:22 AM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]




Best answer: A great German band from the late '70s/early '80s: Kleenex (later called Liliput).
posted by lisa g at 11:31 AM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Au Pairs, though they're a bit more Post-Punk. (Still awesome.)
posted by SansPoint at 11:33 AM on November 11, 2015




Best answer: Almost forgot: Bad Cop/Bad Cop
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:41 AM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: Siouxsie and the Banshees started out in the original London punk scene. Their first two albums pre-date post-punk.

Some examples:
Make Up to Break Up
Carcass
Love in a Void
posted by zenzicube at 12:12 PM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I was going to post what humboldt32 posted.
The Reference of Female Fronted Punk Rock is a spectacular starting point.
I have barely made a dent in looking into artists in that collection.
posted by Seamus at 12:30 PM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: Patti Smith started this.
posted by chrchr at 12:36 PM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Since you love X-Ray Spex you probably already know about Essential Logic, but I'm going to mention them anyway because they're so great and what if someone reads this thread to learn about great woman-led punk bands and doesn't learn about them?? Music is a Better Noise!
posted by languagehat at 12:55 PM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: Metafilter's own Capnsue is in War on Women.
posted by josher71 at 1:12 PM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Team Dresch
posted by josher71 at 1:15 PM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: Death Wish Kids/Pretty Girls Make Graves

posted by josher71 at 1:18 PM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: The Fisticuffs Bluff
posted by saladin at 2:44 PM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Not sure it completely fits but 50 Foot Wave with Kristen Hersh might appeal. Hersh was the the frontrunner (with her half-sister Tanya Donnelly) of the Throwing Muses for years, then solo after that. She can be a acquired taste, musically speaking, though.
posted by elendil71 at 3:04 PM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: If you like the X-Ray Spex and you haven't yet listened to the Downtown Boys, self described as "Bi bilingual political dance sax punk party from Providence", you are in for a treat.
posted by ITheCosmos at 3:12 PM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Best answer: All hail The Fastbacks.
posted by pdb at 4:37 PM on November 11, 2015 [5 favorites]


Best answer: Though she's not with them anymore, Star Fucking Hipsters when they were led by Nico de Gaillo were great.

Two Cups of Tea
3,000 Miles Away
posted by holmesian at 4:51 PM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: (It's funny to have ex hex recommended. They're a local band to me. Do love though).

That's so cool they're your local band. Perhaps you would like one of my local bands: The Hussy. I'm pretty confident you haven't heard of them!
posted by areaperson at 5:18 PM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: Here is a handful of bands to Google that are not already in this thread!

Chalk Circle
Speedy Ortiz
Life Without Buildings
Fucked Up (their lead singer is male but several songs from the album David Comes to Life have male and female vocals)

And a few Bandcamps of female/nonbinary fronted punk bands I have enjoyed seeing!
Potty Mouth
Gauche (shares members with Priests, if I recall correctly)
Split Feet
Negative Scanner
posted by torridly at 6:30 PM on November 11, 2015 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Hole.
posted by bendy at 7:55 PM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: I can't believe no one has mentioned Naked Aggression.
posted by peewinkle at 7:56 PM on November 11, 2015


Best answer: For a sampler, you might look at A Reference Of Female-Fronted Punk Rock 1977-89, 325 tracks, freely downloadable.
posted by lhauser at 8:05 PM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Best answer: The Joyce McKinney Experience
posted by srednivashtar at 4:59 AM on November 12, 2015


Best answer: Delta 5's Mind Your Own Business" is one of the funkiest of the first generation punk songs.
posted by kimota at 5:52 AM on November 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Neighborhood Brats
posted by josher71 at 6:38 AM on November 12, 2015


Response by poster: Wow, this has been an incredible thread. Thank you all for so many recommendations. The ones I've gotten to so far are amazing.

Good thing I have a whole weekend to get into this!
posted by General Malaise at 7:59 AM on November 12, 2015


Best answer: All of these are intense, punk-related bands, but most would not be considered strictly punk-
Melt banana (crazy experimental hardcore)
Harry Pussy (not for the faint of heart)
Erase errata (all female experimental noise)
The ex (split male/female fronting duty)

Nthing that Reference of Female fronted Punk record too. Good stuff.
posted by brevator at 1:45 PM on November 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Sheer Mag are incredible.
posted by indeterminacy at 1:48 PM on November 12, 2015


Best answer: Defunct.
Crass: Penis Envy.
The Au Pairs. "Come Again"
The Flipsides.
The Soviettes. So much awesome.
The Mo-dettes.

Active.
Pretenders, because Tattooed Love Boys and the whole first album is punk as fuck.
Dog Party. Check this great cover of X's 'Los Angeles'.
Pantones. Infectious pop-punk from Madrid.
Dregs. Hardcore from London UK. Don't know much about them except from this Quietus column, and repeated listening of the demo tape.
Give all these bands money so they'll continue!
posted by Zack_Replica at 3:26 PM on November 12, 2015


Best answer: Nots
Vexx
CCTV
Patsy
posted by ghostbikes at 4:57 PM on November 12, 2015


Best answer: AHHHH how did no one suggest Discount?? (Allison from the Kills and The Dead Weather's original band). SO GOOD.

Glad to see Tilt and the Muffs on this list.

also, The Epoxies!
posted by bibliogrrl at 5:40 PM on November 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


Best answer: And for some DEEP cuts, Red Number Nine.
posted by bibliogrrl at 5:44 PM on November 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Ok, one last one. Tribe 8.
posted by bibliogrrl at 5:49 PM on November 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Oh no, I want old stuff too! A lot of the 70-80s stuff was pretty obscure, what with no Internet and all.

You are about to lose SO MANY HOURS on recordings of Ribbon Around a Bomb's radio show. Mostly 70s, mostly no-wave and post punk, all female fronted. There's hours and hours and hours of it online, and the curator's taste runs to the super obscure. I run a punk blog and I haven't heard of like 99% of these bands. It's how I found out about The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black! And 9,000 other bands!

Death Valley Girls
Glamour Hotline
Blizzard Babies
Swimsuit Addition
Bleach Party
Lil Tits
Make-Overs (male+female two piece, both sing)
Cochina
Mystery Actions
Bruiser Queen
Soddy Daisy
Slayer Kitty

For most of these, just google "band name + bandcamp."
posted by Juliet Banana at 6:20 PM on November 12, 2015 [5 favorites]


Best answer: Made a playlist of artists from post-2000s on Spotify, added most suggestions here I could find and a bunch I forgot (How could I forget Demolition Doll Rods? I am a failure.)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:38 PM on November 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Dilly Dally! Singer Katie Monks has one of the best punk growls I've heard recently.
posted by beijingbrown at 12:15 AM on November 13, 2015


Best answer: Penetration
posted by poseathon at 3:39 AM on November 13, 2015


Best answer: Biggest duh: Spitboy!
posted by josher71 at 7:35 AM on November 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Great stuff here! But I don't see my favourite post-2000 listed yet, the Busy Signals. Unfortunatley no longer together, but the singer has a solo album out in similar vein under the name Ana Lucia. All very reminiscent of The Shivvers from the late 70s/early 80s who are also worth checking out.
Oh, and is The Rezillos too obvious?
posted by rodlymight at 8:24 AM on November 13, 2015 [2 favorites]


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